This is a discussion on Back from the dead within the Detailing Forum forums, part of the Tech & Modifying & General Repairs category; I need some advice on what exactly to do to bring a car's paint job back from the dead. My ...

Back from the dead

I need some advice on what exactly to do to bring a car's paint job back from the dead. My wife's poor Grand Am has seen better days and I'm ready to do something about it. Just to clarify, we just got married and I've only been in charge of keeping the car clean for about 1 month now. Anyway, I was thinking I should wash with Dawn to strip all the wax away, then use scratch X or a claybar, then wax, then polish. Does that sound about right? Also, what specific products would work best? I know there are a lot to choose from, but I'd just like to have some opinions.
Thanks guys.

"Wow" was my wife's first response to seeing the car after I was done with it. I'm still not completely satisfied because I couldn't get rid of all the scratches and marks. The paint was just in too bad a shape. However, where the paint was still good, the car shines like no other.
I ended up washing the whole car with Dawn to strip away all the old wax that I could. Then I used scratch X over the entire car. I followed that with Meguiar's polish, and finally I used Ibiz wax. I'll post up some pics tomorrow.
Thanks for the help guys.

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